Harry Potter and the Legend of the Divine Dragon
by MySephiroth
Summary: 7th Year Fic... Harry's quest begins after leaving Hogwarts. An ancient power will need to be harnassed in order for the Boy-Who-Lived to defeat the darkest wizard of the age. Friendships will be tested, alliances will be broken. Who will prevail?


**Chapter 1:**

**The Battle on the Plains**

The final chapter of our story begins in the wizarding village of Hogsmeade. It happened to be the day after the funeral for the greatest wizard that had every lived, Albus Percival Brian Wulfric Dumbledore. Most of the students who had attended his school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had been taken from school immediately after the death of the wizened old headmaster, but for those that remained, it was now time to board the train to head back to King's Cross Station in London. All of the students, save one, were hurrying to try and avoid being stuck in the mud and the rain, all that is save for one Raven – Haired sixteen year old boy who seemed to be in no hurry to leave.

At first glance, one would be hard pressed to see anything but a normal boy standing out in the rain, waiting for his train to leave. However, the thing about this particular boy was that he was the furthest thing from a normal 16-year-old that you would ever find in your life. He had an aura of wisdom beyond his years that seemed to surround him. His newly muscular form seemed to radiate a kind of power that didn't come merely from physical strength. His eyes told of sorrows that one so young should never have to see. In fact, the boy seemed to have the weight of the world resting on his broad shoulders. This boy was the most famous person within the entire Wizarding world, that is, apart from the monster of a man who had decided to make him so.

Harry Potter just stood there in the pouring rain. His two best friends, had already taken his trunk and his owl, Hedwig, onto the train for him. He had decided that he wanted one last good look at the place that he had called his true home for the last six years of his life. As he stared up at Hogwarts, all of his memories of this wonderful old castle came flooding back to him in a giant onslaught: fighting Voldemort and his minions numerous times. If it had been up to him, he would much rather been able to live the life of a normal teenage wizard. Fate however did not share the same opinion. Rage filled him every time he thought of the dark wizard that had robbed him of his parents as well as a normal life, and the comforts that should have come with it.

Fortunately dark thoughts were not all that he was capable of. He vividly remembered winning the Quidditch and House cups numerous times. The celebrations with the members of his house were some of the happiest times of his life and the joy he felt during those times had seemed unmatchable. The most prized memories that he had of this ancient castle, where the times he spent with his two best friends Ron and Hermione. Also he cherished those few short months with Ron's sister Ginny. The times that he had spent with everyone had been up and down like all friendships should be, but he knew that he would never have traded any of it for anything.

However, reality was always present and was most visible with the deaths of Cedric Diggory, his godfather Sirius Black, and Professor Dumbledore. These events brought a great and overwhelming sorrow that would forever mark his time in this blessed place of learning. He felt an overwhelming responsibility for all of these deaths, and it caused him to hold in a deep self hatred of what he thought was weakness at not being able to protect these people who had been close to him.

While staring out at the old castle, Harry allowed himself to do two things he hadn't done since the funeral. The first was he thought about the good times he had spent with Ginny not as friends, but as something more. He had struggled to push her from his mind so as to do what he thought would keep her safe and free from Voldemort. He remembered that month that seemed to be from another universe. These thoughts were what eventually caused him to accomplish the other thing that he had deprived himself of since the funeral, a smile.

Harry didn't know how long he had been standing there reminiscing, what he did know however was that he had become soaked through to the bone from all the rain. His messy black hair was matted against his forehead, his wet clothes were beginning to stick to him, and his glasses were covered in little raindrops. Despite this, and the fact that he was beginning to get cold, he remained firmly planted to the ground he was standing on. Finally, a voice from the train brought him out of his deep thought.

"Oi mate, you planning on catching your death out here, or would you care to honor us with your presence for the train ride home?"

Harry gave a small chuckle. It was his best friend Ron Weasley. The tall red haired boy had been Harry's best friend since he had first ridden the train to Hogwarts during his first year.

"Harry, come on! You're going to miss the train if you don't hurry up and get on!" called a bushy haired girl from behind Ron.

Harry turned around and smiled at his other best friend Hermione Granger who was standing next to Ron. She was best known for being 'the smart one' of the three friends, but this usually caused her to be very demanding at times, especially when it came to school work or researching.

As Harry turned to join his friends on the train, he noticed that while struggling to see around the tall form that was Ron, Hermione had firmly planted herself on him with her arm across his waist to keep herself from falling out of the train door. In return Ron had turned the customary Weasley color of embarrassed red.

Harry hurried as the train started to lurch forward and its whistle blew. He was able to get onto the train very quickly and soon the three had the doors closed and began to walk to their customary spot toward the back of the train.

Harry's emotions betrayed him again and he smiled as he noticed Hermione and Ron steal glances at one another when they thought the other wasn't looking.

'I wish those two would those two just get their act together already and tell each other how they feel.' Harry thought to himself.

As the trio reached the last compartment on the train, Ron and Hermione turned to Harry with a worried look on their faces.

"Harry, mate, you gonna be alright by yourself for a while? We have prefect's duties to do, unfortunately." Ron said this in a tone that was a mixture of sadness from being away from Harry when he thought he needed him most, and happiness at the thought of walking around the train with Hermione.

"Yeah," Harry nodded "I'll be alright. I think I'm going to just go to sleep."

Hermione gave Harry a strange little smile. It almost seemed to suggest that she knew something that no one else did. Granted, this definitely wasn't anything out of the ordinary with Hermione.

Then it hit him, she must have found out about Ginny. His eyes widened, but she just gave him a simple loving sisterly smile that put him at ease. She walked over to Harry and wordlessly gave him a hug. This silence was odd coming from Hermione. However the silence was then replaced by something bold even for Hermione standards, she took Ron by the hand, pulled him closer to her, and kissed him on the cheek and with a whisper in his ear, led him down the corridor toward the prefect's cabin.

Instead of turning red again, Ron paled and looked like he was going to faint. For the third time in such a short period, Harry smiled.

He walked into the empty compartment to find his trunk and Hedwig his owl sitting there waiting for him. Hermione and Ron's trunks were there also waiting for the two of them to return from their assigned duties.

He contemplated pulling out his invisibility cloak in order to give himself a very private nap, but something told him that if he were to look for it, he wouldn't find it. This was all despite the fact that he had gone to retrieve the cloak from the top of the astronomy tower before he left.

Instead Harry just lay down across the bench and curled up ready to fall asleep. It didn't take him long at all because of the lack of it that he had. As of late, Harry's dreams had been filled with images of Dumbledore falling from the Astronomy Tower, and the Dark Mark hanging eerily in the sky. These images caused him to once again take up his old hobby of wandering around the castle at night in order to prevent his mind from reliving these events night after night. However he could not stay awake forever, and soon sleep took him. He could feel the sweat pouring down his body as he felt like screaming. He watched helplessly as Dumbledore began to once again fall from the high tower. Harry helplessly tried to reach out for Dumbledore's falling body.

He awoke to the sound of a wand hitting the ground, his first reaction was to look for his own wand, and he found it right above his head were he had put it before falling asleep. Grabbing his own wand, he got up to investigate who's this could possibly be. He could tell instantly whose it was, but could not see the form of Ginny Weasley anywhere within his compartment. It was a flash of memory that brought an idea as to where she might.

He had tried very hard not to think about much of the night he had spent in the caves with Dumbledore, but something that his beloved Headmaster had said that night refused to be pushed out of the young wizards mind.

'Magic always leaves traces.'

He reached out toward the empty bench in front of him, grasped a thin silvery material, and gently pulled. To no surprise, his invisibility cloak silently slid off of the sleeping form of Ginny Weasley.

'Merlin is she beautiful' Harry thought to himself as he stared at his ex girlfriend.

Ginny's eyes were puffy as if she had been crying for a while. He knew that he was the cause for her tears, but he silently vowed to himself that he would end those tears once the war was over. 'You're doing the right thing, never think for a minute otherwise' he stubbornly told himself. Not wanting to disturb the sleeping redhead. Harry decided to get some fresh air.

He turned to leave the compartment when a pain like he had never experienced burst from his scar. The pain blinded him and instantly brought him to his knees. It felt like he was screaming, but the pain was so much that he couldn't hear anything over the ringing that plagued his ears. His vision and his senses blurred, but he could swear that he could feel a hot sticky liquid running down his forehead into his eyes and over his hands. Suddenly the pain dulled to a tiny prickle and he found he was looking at the plains surrounding the very train he was riding on.

It was a very foggy scene; he found that he was looking at the Hogwarts Express in the distance. The locomotive was dead on the very tracks it rode on. The lights were extinguished; there was no power to the engine itself. It was almost as if the magic had been drained out of the engine itself. Thousands of figures surrounded the train staring lifelessly towards those inside that made up their prey. They were not wizards or men, but at the same time they were more than inferi. They were dead but aware, something Harry was quite sure, that no had ever seen before.

The pain slowly died away and Harry was soon able to stand again on shaky legs. Most peculiar was the fact that the train was still moving. He began to ponder what exactly he had seen. Was it the future, or maybe another trap set up by Voldemort. He hadn't opted to use that tactic since his fifth year. More hot liquid poured down from Harry's forehead, and he looked at his hands. His scar had in fact burst open. He could only imagine the sight of himself covered in blood that stemmed from the scar on his forehead.

It was the train jerking to a sudden stop that brought Harry back to his vision.

Ginny gave a squeak of surprise as she flew forward right into Harry's waiting arms.

"Ginny are you alright?"

"Ha-Harry, what's going on?"

"The train stopped." Harry replied simply. "Listen I need you to go and find Hermione and Ron and stay with them. I have to go and see what teachers are on the train."

"Why Harry? What's the matter, why did the train stop?" Ginny asked in frightened voice. It was then that Ginny noticed that Harry was covered in blood. "Merlin Harry you're covered in blood! Tell me what is going on this instant!"

There was no time for Harry to explain, as he had stood up to leave the compartment, he got a peek out of the window and with the help of a flash of lightning, saw thousands of shadows standing on the plains surrounding the Hogwarts Express. Ginny quickly followed Harry's wide, horror filled eyes as he stared out of the compartment window.

Under his breath Harry whispered, "No not now, I have to warn somebody, it can't be too late."

Standing outside of the train were thousands of creatures, each standing in the rain staring. As she looked outside, Ginny realized that the lights had gone out, just like in Second Year when the dementors had boarded the train. She feared they had come again this time with darker purposes.

"Harry, is it dementors again, are they coming for you?" She asked.

"No Ginny, it's not dementors this time," Harry answered, "this time it is something much worse."

Harry could only allow himself a little more time to assess the situation; however he could still not come up with a plan. Where were Hermione and Ron when he needed them most? Just as this thought popped into his head, the two appeared at the compartment door and they quickly hurried inside.

"Harry, Inferius what are we going to do?" Hermione demanded.

"Hermione chill, I'm sure he's thinking." Ron answered. This served the purpose of saving Harry the trouble of explaining that he did not yet have a plan of action. "HARRY, YOUR HEAD! Where did all that blood come from?"

"It's not mine don't worry about it." Harry lied quickly.

"Harry don't you lie to me, and WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL ARE WE GONNA DO ABOUT THE BLOODY ZOMBIES!" Ron screamed out.

"Ronald, watch your mouth!" Hermione retorted.

With that Hermione and Ron began bickering at one another in loud voices. Harry only barely registered their row, as well as Ginny chipping in her two cents to the two them. A strange female voice had taken all of his attention away from everything happening in and around the train.

'_Harry, you are ready for this, remember that the undead are afraid of light and heat.'_

Who was this voice? It was so familiar and yet at the same time Harry had no clue as to whom the voice belonged to.

'_Harry your friends will not be any help in this fight, and you will be forced to fight alone. You will however not be alone. Allow the force that sleeps inside of you to awaken, it can and will help you. In time one of your friends will awaken theirs as well and together the two of you will help keep peace in the world long after evil is gone.'  
_

Harry began talking to thin air.

"Power what power!?" he demanded "I don't have any special powers! What power!!" he was screaming by now, "ANSWER ME!!!"

Hermione, Ron, and Ginny had long stopped their argument and were now staring in fear as their friend screamed into the ceiling.

"Harry, who are you talking to?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Harry however didn't hear her. His heart was hammering in his chest. He could feel his body shivering, yet he wasn't at all cold. In fact he felt over heated, like something was burning him from the inside out.

He couldn't speak, his throat was dry, his vision blurred again. 'What is happening to me?' he thought. 'It feels like something is trying to burst out of my chest.'

Fear gripped through Harry. He was waging a war against whatever was inside of him, whatever this voice had said he had, and he was losing miserably. What if he couldn't control this power and it harmed his friends, he couldn't chance it. He had to suppress whatever was going on.

The other three looked on as Harry began sweating and shaking violently. They didn't know what was happening, nor did they know how to help their friend.

They tried talking to him to calm him down, but Harry couldn't understand their voices. The ringing that plagued his ears during his vision had returned and the voices of his friends were distorted to his ears.

A second voice, just as familiar as the first, was able to cease the ringing and speak to him once again in a calming tone.

'_Harry my dear boy…' _

'Who is this now?' he asked inside his own head. 'I will not release whatever this is inside of me.' 'If I don't have control then I may hurt an innocent person!'

'_No my dear boy, you must listen…' _

Harry, whose eyes were open but not seeing anything, finally focused onto something. He was shocked by what he saw. There standing in front of him was a beautiful auburn haired woman and a taller raven haired man. At first he thought that the woman was Ginny. The likeness to her was remarkable. Then as he thought about it, he knew that it was Ginny's arms that were enveloping him trying to help him stay upright. Realization finally hit him and his mouth dropped open.

"Mum, Dad?"

'_Yes my dear… Harry you must listen to us…Release your power, you will be no danger to anyone but your enemies… you must trust us please…'_

Harry just slowly nodded his head in acknowledgement, and gave up his inner struggle. His body went still, and from the outside, he seemed to have withdrawn into himself. It felt like the dam inside had burst and he felt a warm and drunken feeling spread throughout his body.

A slight breeze began to whip up inside of the compartment and a warm golden aura began to surround Harry. Ginny released him with a startled yelp, and Ron and Hermione once again stared. The three of them slumped against the walls of the compartment with astonished looks plastered on their faces. A new sense of confidence spread through Harry like dragon fire. He had his plan, he knew what he must do.

He looked outside of the train and saw two dozen wizards composed of Aurors, Order Members, and teachers going out to meet the Inferi head on. He knew they would be slaughtered before long, so with a simple wave of his hand, Harry caused them all to apparate back onto the train with nary a sound.

The wizards were clumped within the Hallways of the train and confusion quickly spread throughout their ranks. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny turned to look out of the door at who was in the hallway.

"Harry look at this, everyone who went outside are back…" Ron began.

"Harry…?" Hermione said as she turned around. Harry however was gone.

"Harry were did you go?" Ron yelled to the walls.

It was Ginny that found him first. She had gone to window as soon as they had discovered that he was gone, and she was the first to see him walking calmly by himself toward the waiting inferius. Ron and Ginny were both erratically screaming at Harry to come back, while Hermione turned toward the door to follow him.

She however was met with a locked door. Pulling out her wand she attempted to unlock it.

"Alohamora!" she shouted… Nothing, her wand seemed to be unable to work.

The two Weasley's continued to scream for Harry to return, but Hermione silenced them. "Guys I think Harry put an anti magical barrier around the train. Ours wands are useless."

Despite this knowledge, Ron still brashly took out his wand. "Bloody Hell I will not let my best mate go out there and get himself killed, if he's going to fight then so am I." "BOMBARDA!"

Hermione and Ginny braced themselves for the explosion that should have followed, but none came. They heard a rustle of wind and turned and saw Harry standing right behind them.

After realizing that they were all still in tact, Ginny began berating her older brother. "RONALD YOU COULD HAVE KILLED US ALL WITH THAT SPELL YOU PRAT!" After the surprisingly quick rant, Ron turned his customary shade of red as Ginny and Hermione both turned toward the window to see Harry.

Harry was slowly approaching the creatures standing out on the plains surrounding the train. His hair was stood straight up despite the wind and the rain outside. The same golden aura surrounded him and in the darkness, he looked as if he was being consumed by a blazing inferno.

As he approached them, one huge Inferi broke out from the middle of the group. It looked different from the rest, while all seemed to have some sense of awareness greater than that of a mindless Zombie, this one seemed like any other wizard. The only feature that allowed Harry to see that this wizard was in fact dead was the giant gaping hole where the heart should have been.

The zombie spoke as Harry approached them. "Ah Potter, this makes things easier for us. Now we will not have to search through bodies in order to find yours."

"Why have you come to this place?" Harry asked.

"We have come for you, the Dark Lord has sent us to retrieve you. As for the rest on the train, well, they are in fact… Lunch" came the reply.

Unfazed by the Zombies answer, Harry gave a steady reply. "Neither shall come to pass, turn back now and return to your dark master or I shall be forced to return you to the abyss where you came from."

Rage began to spread through the ranks of the inferi and Harry could see them straining to wait for the command from their leader to attack this impudent boy.

"You are quite bold young one, I respect that." "You however have no idea what you are up against. We come from a time long passed, one where great wizards such as I commanded legions of soldiers much like the ones you see before you now." "We have fought a great many battles and conquered in them, we shall not be defeated by a whelp such as you, not after gaining a life eternal."

Harry shouted his reply of the ever increasing wind on the plain, "Your eternal life shall be cut short if you continue on with this attempt, I warn you now, if you attack I will leave none of you standing."

As he had been expecting, this was the final straw. He had almost pushed the wizard's patience past the breaking point, their attack would come any second now…

"IMPUDENT WHELP, I have had enough of your babble." "It is time for you and your friends to meet your end. Farewell, for we shall not see you on the other side."

A deafening roar came from the thousands of soldiers surrounding the wizard, as they began their charge at Harry. Yet Harry just stood their waiting for them to reach him.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all watched and waited with baited breath. As the nearest of the inferi began to close in on Harry, Ron shouted "HARRY GET OUT THERE!!"

Just as the monster swung a huge sword right at Harry's head, the young wizard seemed to disappear out of thin air. Searching the battle ground, they saw Harry standing behind the now headless zombie. The monster went suddenly limp as its head fell from its shoulders. Grabbing the beast's sword, Harry turned and faced the rest of the phalanx charging at him at full speed.

Harry began slashing and cutting his way through the approaching inferi with great ease. Every now and again, one of the inferi would land a blow upon Harry, but he shook it off as if it had been a bee sting and continued to move through their ranks like water.

"Why isn't Harry using his wand?" Ron wondered.

Ginny gave him a slow response. "Because Ron… Harry doesn't have it." She held up Harry's wand for both Ron and Hermione to see.

"Harry please be ok…" was all Hermione could squeak out through the tears that had formed in her eyes.

As Ron, Hermione, and Ginny looked, they could see Harry moving quickly through each and every body. Amazed, they watched as a few of the inferi would burst into flames seemingly on its own until Hermione caught sight of Harry's hands as he passed by the most recent one to combust.

"He's casting wandless magic!!" She exclaimed, "Watch his hands as he passes by them." "His spell is so strong it consumes them in mere seconds."

Sure enough as Ron and Ginny watched, they could see Harry do a complicated hand motion an instant before the inferi would burst into flame.

They watched as two of them engaged Harry at the same time, both swinging massive two-handed swords. Harry raised his own smaller broadsword in defense of the simultaneous blows. Amazingly Harry did not even seem as if he had noticed the clang and sudden weight that had been wrought down upon his own weapon. He easily deflected the blows as if they were nothing and quickly dispatched the two wretched creatures standing in front of him.

Three more began to charge their way towards him, but Harry set the three of them ablaze with a quick spell and continued his trek towards their awaiting leader.

It was not long before most of the zombies were dispatched and the embers from the multiple pyres were slowly dying away. The largest of the inferi was the last one standing and Harry continued his approach toward it. His robes and his cloak were torn in places where the other inferi had bitten or struck him with their weapons. They did not hurt outright, but left a stinging sensation that Harry knew would turn into full out pain once this mysterious energy faded. The area that stung the most was his right side. One of the larger monsters had gotten a good hold of Harry with his teeth before his head was sent rolling down the plain with Harry's sword.

"You have fought well young one, I however will not be so easy for you to defeat." The monster confidently spat at Harry as he approached.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be quite so overconfident." Harry retorted

"WE SHALL SEE WHO IS THE OVERCONFIDENT ONE WHEN I KILL YOU AND THEN YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS ABOARD THAT TRAIN!!" the monster screamed

Unfazed, Harry waited without blinking for the wizard to attack.

"I should have you know whelp, that I will be especially pleased to kill a certain pretty Redhead that I know is watching you at this very moment."

Harry tried as hard as he could to remain calm and focused, but the mention of Ginny by this monster brought into sharp realization that Voldemort must also know what she meant to him.

"Yes that's right I can see it in your eyes, she means everything to you doesn't she? You love her." "Well since that is the case, I will make sure that I leave her for last and savor the kill. I'm thinking something slow and painful how about you?" "Yes I believe that will do nicely…"

A deranged smile crossed over the Inferi's face as he raised his own sword and prepared to charge. Harry remained calm and refused to move. Fire seemed to flash in his eyes, and the golden aura that had been surrounding him soon flashed red with his pent up fury.

Harry could feel his rage boiling over, and as it did so he noticed everything begin to fuzzy. His vision was outlined in red yet he could see clearer than he ever had before. His hearing and all of his other senses heightened to superhuman levels.

With an inhuman roar, Harry's rage finally hit its limit and he charged at the awaiting monster. Sword tucked carefully in an attacking position. He swung with flawless precision and an extreme amount of power. Using Harry's rage to his advantage, the wizard easily deflected Harry's attack to the side and made to swing at him with his own attack.

Upon attacking however, the monster soon came to realize that Harry was gone from his sight.

"Mere parlor tricks like this will not save you boy!" "Come out and face me like the Man you claim to be!"

The wizard felt a tap on his shoulder behind him and immediately swung his sword at the head he had expected to be there. His blade however met with nothing but air.

Harry had ducked the attack and sidled to the monsters right side. Quickly recovering from his haphazard attack, the monster once again swung at Harry, who parried his blow. Harry was forced backwards as the monsters sword strikes were coming at him quicker and quicker with each passing second. He could feel him becoming drained. This long fight was beginning to take its toll on him. Pain quickly began to wrack his body from the injuries that he had taken from all of the fighting. He knew that if he did not end this battle quickly than he would surely lose.

Deciding to use the monsters strength to his own advantage, Harry left himself open for strong attack after parrying, seeing his new advantage, the wizard swung at Harry with all of his might hoping to take his head off. Harry quickly ducked the attack and with all of his remaining strength, slashed the monster's arm off in one clean sweep.

Sword and arm both removed, the monster turned to face Harry. "You may have won this battle boy, but the war is only beginning. The Dark Lord has seen enough to know that you are weak and will never defeat him." With that the monster let out a maniacal laugh as Harry swung one final time and removed his head from its place upon his high shoulders. The monsters eyes then stared blankly off across the plains.

Harry could feel his limbs fail him as he began a slow trek back across the plain toward the Hogwarts express. The aura that had surrounded him was now gone, and his vision became blurry and dark. A pounding began in his head and a loud ringing in his ears, and the pain throughout his body was overwhelming.

'I'm going to die here' was all he could think as he fell to his knees fifty feet from the train.

A brilliant flash of light and a large crash were the last things he experienced before he lost himself to the abyss…

**I redid this chapter a little from the original but kept the basics of it as best I could. Made the battle scene longer and hopefully better than I did the first time, and made an actual temporary protagonist even if it's only for one chapter. I will be going through all of my first six chapters and hopefully improving them. Review and let me know**

**Seph**


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